Tag Archives: copyright laws

Mediaite reports: After President Donald Trump shared 2020 campaign video that used The Dark Knight Rises‘ soundtrack without permission, Warner Bros. had the video taken down — and Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is blaming CNN’s connection to AT&T for the removal. CNN is owned by WarnerMedia News & Sports, which is owned by AT&T, which also owns the Warner …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: Video footage of audience members waving their hands to “Purple Rain” at one of President Trump’s rallies apparently raised a red flag from some members of Prince’s estate, who issued a statement Thursday night asking that “they cease all use immediately.” The statement, sent out via Twitter, read, “The Prince Estate has never given permission to …

ABC News reports: Fire and Fury has become an instant best-seller since it went on sale on Friday, with hard copies sold out in many stores within an hour. Mr Trump has begun legal action against the author, seeking to discredit the book’s allegations against him as fake and disputing Mr Wolff’s claim that he personally interviewed the President before …

The New York Daily News reports: It’s a double fantasy. More than 45 years after the release of the 1971 John Lennon classic, “Imagine,” Yoko Ono is getting a songwriting credit for the top song of her husband’s solo career. Lennon himself admitted that he swiped the idea for “Imagine” from a book of Ono poems. In a BBC interview …

Last month Queen’s Brian May denounced Donald Trump for using We Are The Champions as his walk-on music, saying that that “permission to use the track was neither sought nor given.” May went to say that the band was “taking steps” to ensure that Trump was stopped. But pesky things like intellectual property laws are for the little people and …

Snork! CNN reports: Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will have to pay $25,000 due to copyright infringement. Huckabee played “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor at a rally last year for Kim Davis, a Kentucky County court clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. At the time, Huckabee had not paid for rights to use the song. The …

Madonna has finally won her very long battle with Salsoul Records. For now. Variety reports: On Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made it easier for musicians to sample small portions of song recordings by giving Madonna and her producer Robert “Shep” Pettibone a victory in a long-running lawsuit over the 1990 hit “Vogue.” The decision affirms a 2013 …

Kardashian clan member Kylie Jenner has filed federal trademark applications for her first name. Not having it is gay icon Kylie Minogue, whose representation has fired back with enough legal shade to put Hollywood’s sunblock vendors out of business. Minogue’s opposing filing pointedly notes that Jenner is “home-schooled” and calls her a “secondary reality show personality” who only plays a …

Warner Music has formally surrendered in its years-long battle to retain the copyright to Happy Birthday To You. Via the New York Daily News: The universally beloved, though lyrically limited, song, “Happy Birthday to You” will soon be available for free to filmmakers and the like, thanks to a music publishing company’s decision to back off fighting a judge who …

A few days ago Adele’s label brought the copyright hammer down on Mike Huckabee’s cringeworthy take on her megahit Hello. Today she’s telling Donald Trump to stop using her songs at his hate rallies. Via the Independent: Adele has told Donald Trump that he does not have permission to use her songs at campaign rallies after fans expressed their anger …

The surreal Hitler Youth-esque tribute to Donald Trump recently performed by a trio of young girl at a Trump rally has been removed from YouTube due to a copyright infringement claim filed by EMI Music. The melody to Ameritude (ugh) had been lifted from George M. Cohan’s World War I anthem Over There and publishing rights to the tune are …

A member of Survivor yesterday filed a lawsuit against Mike Huckabee for playing Eye Of The Tiger during the rally celebrating Kim Davis’ release from jail. Politico reports: Rude Music, operated by founding Survivor member and song co-author Frank M. Sullivan III, filed suit in an Illinois federal court Wednesday alleging that the former Arkansas governor violated a copyright in …

Right Wing Watch reports today that their YouTube channel has been suspended due to “baseless copyright claims” filed over videos that feature Pastor Kevin Swanson, who repeatedly called for the genocide of homosexuals at last weekend’s “religious liberty” conference where the headlining speakers included Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal. Apparently Swanson is VERY UNHAPPY that his murderous calls …

Last week lawyers for Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler sent the Trump campaign a cease-and-desist letter which demanded they stop using the band’s 1973 power ballad Dream On as his entrance music. Today Trump tweeted that he has a “better song” to take its place, claiming that he had the legal right to use Dream On in the first place. …

Broadcasters and filmmakers may finally use Happy Birthday To You without paying royalties to Warner Music. Via the Guardian: A federal court judge in Los Angeles has declared the song Happy Birthday To You belongs in the public domain, dealing a blow to the music publishing company that has been collecting royalties from the song for decades. US district judge …

The 80s rock band Survivor is threatening to sue Mike Huckabee and/or Kim Davis for using their smash single Eye Of The Tiger today as Davis exited her Kentucky jailhouse. Billboard reports: It might be Kim Davis’ favorite hype-up song, but Survivor says it did not grant the embattled Kentucky county clerk the rights to use “Eye of the Tiger” …

Sure sounds like it. Via the New York Times: China lacks enough snow for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, environmentalists said. China is too repressive to hold the Games, detaining hundreds of lawyers just in the past month, rights campaigners said. On Friday, despite those complaints, the International Olympic Committee awarded the Games to Beijing. Now some people are drawing …

Rand Paul entered and exited the stage today to the tune of an anti-Wall Street country song owned by Warner Brothers. So of course YouTube’s magic genie recognized the track as copyrighted material and blocked the clip from further viewing. Snicker.

Via the Los Angeles Times: A federal jury found Tuesday that the 2013 hit song “Blurred Lines” infringed on the Marvin Gaye chart-topper “Got to Give It Up,” awarding nearly $7.4 million to Gaye’s children. Jurors found against singer-songwriters Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, but held harmless the record company and rapper T.I. The verdict capped a trial that lasted …

The children of the late Marvin Gaye are suing Robin Thicke for the profits of Blurred Lines, which has sold 15 million copies, earning $5M each for Thicke and its songwriter Pharrell Williams, who testified yesterday as the trial ended. Williams said after the song was released, he saw similarities between “Blurred Lines” and Gaye’s work but said that wasn’t …